The CFO Coach

Stay the Course ... or Pivot?

You thought I was going to talk politics, right? Another day, perhaps. But I am going to borrow from a current political message.

Disregard people’s responses at your own peril. And while that certainly does apply to companies, government, and CXO’s who set strategy, what about on a much more personal level ... your job search.

What responses are you getting to ...

Your resume? Interest? Inquiries? Interviews? Or, Silence? Unless your answer is one or all of the first three, what can you do differently to move from silence to activity?

Networking? Is your network providing you with introductions to your target market? Or, are people hiding behind closed doors because you asked them for a job and they can’t deliver? Is it time to hone your message?

Search strategy? Sitting in front of a computer and responding to posted positions is easy and it sure can make a person feel productive. But what is the return on your investment of time and energy? If decision-makers are not responding, the search strategy might need an overhaul.

Online Presence? Do you have one? Is it credible? Is it attracting the kind of opportunities you want? If your message is not resonating with your target market, then perhaps the messaging needs to be refined. 

I know you know this. If you keep on doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll continue to get what you’ve been getting. If you’re getting what you want and need, great! If you aren’t, then it’s time to pivot. Unless you embrace change, it’s unlikely anything will change.

Executive finance positions, and particularly CFO roles, are limited. There are only so many available slots at the top. Move away from the masses (competition) and the same ineffective strategies they all use and craft (no pun intended) a strategy that gets you out in the open where you can be seen and found by those who need to know about you, need what you have, and are willing to pay to get it.

Are You a Down-But-Not-Out Star?

According to Dr. John Sullivan, the definition of a down-but-not-out-star is this ...

... you bring an exceptional record of performance and whatever bumped you from your perch is most likely only a short bump in the road. (Full article)

I was having the “passive candidate” conversation with another finance executive recruiter recently. His comments really resonated given the article by Dr. Sullivan. When asked whether he presents unemployed candidates to his client companies, he said yes ... and why they are unemployed makes the big difference. Did they work themselves out of a job or were they terminated?

Working yourself out of a job could certainly define you as a down-but-not-out star. If that does define you, what are you doing to separate yourself from the non-star finance executive candidates competing for those same positions?

Unless you stand out from the crowd, you will blend in; and if you blend in, it’s unlikely your stardom will be shining through. 

A very accomplished CFO prospect contacted me yesterday. When I inquired what he had done in the three weeks he’s been unemployed and before contacting me, he said, among other things, posting his resume on all the public job boards. He has now blended in, commoditized himself, and made his search that much more difficult.

Step away from the job boards and do what your competition is NOT doing. If you have star power, even down-but-not-out star power, leverage it!

The Age Old Question .. To Brand or Not to Brand

Ryan Rancatore interviewed the Wine Guy, Gary Vaynerchuk on personal branding ... specifically, what personal branding has meant to his career. He has some thought provoking responses and the post is certainly read-worthy. 

Take this comment, for example ...

People just don’t stay in jobs as long as they used to, it just makes sense to let people know who you are beyond your job title.

Authenticity. Visibility. Credibility. Building your personal brand fosters distinction among  the targeted audience of people who need to know about you. And it takes time. Rarely does anyone become an overnight success. Rather, they spend time consistently playing in a niched space, leveraging what they do well, building an authentic reputation, and growing their network. That means, the best time to build your personal brand is when you are ensconced in a position with a move 12-18 months in the future.

As Vaynerchuk also says, 

I’d ask one of the millions of unemployed workers if they didn’t wish they had spent time building a personal brand. 

There are only so many CFO and senior-level finance positions available. Winning one of those roles means you do what the competition isn’t doing ... before you need to do it. 

I Can Do All Things!

Unless you are Superman, those words will probably work against you rather than for you ... particularly when searching for that next finance executive position. From my perspective, here are the top three reasons why ...

Jack-of-all-Trades, Master-of-None ... When you’re good at a lot of things, rarely are you an expert at SOMEthing. That “something” is usually what companies are hiring. Katie Konrath said this in her post, “Stop Saying You Can Do Anything!” ...

... acting like a jack-of-all-trades ends up causing others to think (that if you’ve spent the time learning how to do everything) you haven’t had the time to become really good at what they actually need you to do.

Commodity Status ... Knowing a lot about a little rather than being a Subject Matter Expert, by its very nature, relegates candidates to commodity status. Wikipedia’s definition of commodity is this ... paraphrased ... “there is demand, but no differentiation ... and price [salary] is determined as a function of its market as a whole.” 

Being a Master of SOMEthing is usually more valued than being a Master of ALL things ... both in perception and salary.

Weak Positioning ... When you are all things to all people, you are no longer true to yourself. You aren’t playing from your passions, values, or in many cases, your strengths you are making and re-making yourself into what someone needs or wants. The result is compromising a strong and compelling position. Raymond Hull said it this way ... “He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.”  When you understand your area of expertise and the target market who needs it, your positioning is much stronger. 

The reality is ... the tighter your niche or area of expertise, the bigger your presence. Think about it.

Inbound vs. Outbound for Marketing YOU

Doug Haslam wrote a great blog post about inbound marketing, and he’s right, it has everything to do with your career. Here’s an excerpt ...

Inbound Marketers flip outbound marketing on its head.

Instead of interrupting people with television ads, they create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they create their own blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling, they create useful content and tools so that people call them looking for more information.

This definition concentrates on content creation, but the real meat is the phrase “people call them.”

It’s the old push / pull marketing terms with new names. The result, though, is the same. You can either push your message to people who don’t care, won’t listen, and are happy to round file your resume ... I call this the spaghetti strategy ... or you can pull your target market to you with a clear, compelling, and visible brand. Which would you rather do?

Inbound marketing has everything to do with proactively managing your career and the very best time to begin is when you are happy, satisfied, and doing well in your current position. If you are a CFO or finance executive who has been missing the social media boat, it is not too late to jump on board. You have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose. 

In CNN’s Executive Education article, "How not to ruin your next career move,” Matt Knight says this ...

Executives at the top, as well as people lower down the career ladder are sometimes so desperate to leave their job that they don't plan their career moves and lurch from job to job instead of waiting for the right position.

Desperation can often become the breeding ground for bad decision-making and/or result in a very long job search. I was talking with an executive recruiter who places CFOs earlier this week and he told me one of the most aggravating parts of his job was when prospective candidates, who clearly did not meet his client’s specs, tried to talk him into believing they could do the job anyway. Desperation can also cause otherwise great networking contacts to sour very quickly.

Think of your career as Business You and begin strategizing your inbound marketing plan today.

Is Your Career Like a Leaky Faucet?

One of my Twitter CFO friends, Scott McPherson, blogged about the leaky faucet concept in businesses. It just so happened that I read this on the same morning a plumber was heading my way to fix an annoying leak in my shower faucet ... so the article really resonated with me. Particularly this line ...

Basically, that tiny leak had the power to turn into a huge nightmare.

Is your career analogous to a leaking faucet? It is if you just landed that new CFO position, and things are going great so why, you ask, waste time thinking about your career? Except that, it’s important to remember that you are only ever between searches. And the moment you forget that, your career can quickly become the small drip from a leaky faucet. 

The tension is palpable. The warning signs are everywhere. Good friends are caught in protracted, painful job searches. Drip. Drip. Drip ...

And yet, it is easier to focus on today and the fact that you are fortunate to have a job. But what about tomorrow? Drip. Drip. Drip ...

Remember the CFO I mentioned who had a great job one day and was walked to the door the next ... with no inkling the end was coming when he walked in the door that morning. His drip turned into a full-fledged nightmare in less than 12 hours.

Getting proactive in managing your career can save that tiny drip from turning into the nightmare of unemployment. With a strong value proposition, marketability is at its highest when you are sitting inside looking out ... and the people who need to know about all the great things you’ve done, know about them.

If you are unemployed and your search has been non-productive for awhile, perhaps it’s time to call a professional. If you continue doing what you’ve been doing, it is likely you will continue getting the same results.

Drip. Drip. Drip ....

Structure a 24/7 Career Survival Plan

It’s the start of a New Year and while some things may have changed, others remain the same. For the savvy finance executive, proactively managing his career will continue to be the goal … ramping it up will be the change.

Whether you are actively seeking a new position, anticipate moving within the next year, or you’ve just landed and are now beginning to focus on that next position, here are two things you should be doing for your career in 2010.

Digital Footprint ... Particularly advantageous to the “employed, passive” candidate, a strong digital footprint helps you get on the radar screen of people who need to know about you ... while increasing your credibility. Remember the new definition of networking is who needs to know about me. It is much easier to network when a job search, particularly a desperate job search, is not the focus of the conversation.

Google Alerts ... Set up alerts on your name, your company, future company prospects, and industry key words. Google will deliver the latest news and information directly to your email box keeping you informed on what’s going on in your target market and what’s being said about you. There are things being said about you, right?

By the way, the finance executive who just landed that new CFO position ... often has the laser focus of recruiters as a high-value target for their next search.

Make it Personal, PLEASE!

I don’t often rant, but I’m about to. I’ve blogged previously about the importance of personalized invitations on Linked In ... and yet ... I still get invites that are canned. At least I can look at the profile to determine who the person is. I’d like to suggest, strongly, that personalizing Facebook friend requests is also highly recommended. 

This morning I received a friend request on Facebook with no personal message and no way to determine who this person was because all of his settings were at the highest level of privacy. I didn’t know who he was nor could I glean any information from his info page. He was a nameless person who, for all intents and purposes, could have been unsavory. How would I know?

I sent him a very nice message stating that I was careful about who I friended and asking how he found me and why he decided to reach out to me. His response ...

Delete the friend request. Too complicated.

Seriously? This from a professional? Too complicated to personalize an invitation to someone with whom you would like to connect? Where I come from, that is actually professional and courteous. If you're going to invite people to join you, give them a reason to say yes.

The Sequel ... Are CFOs Missing the Social Networking Boat?

If you identified with yesterday’s post and recognize that you are a CFO who is missing the social media boat, here are a few thoughts for your consideration. 

There’s an interesting article on Digiday entitled “Forever Jung: What Makes Social Media Social.” Here’s a relevant excerpt ... 

The more a message resonates, the more “social” it becomes. We have many “tools” to facilitate this sharing:  email, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Reddit, etc.  But it’s imperative that we not confuse our tools with our goals. It is the connection to the “second psychic system” that remains the essential component of “social media.” Understanding this reintroduces the notion that what we say is more important than how we say it.  Empty messages don’t connect because the collective deems them not worth sharing.

Social media sites are merely facilitators of conversation. And NO message is an EMPTY message. 

Content may be king of the Internet, but engaging rules social media. In fact, the infamous “6 degrees of separation” has been reduced to 5 degrees by virtue of the Internet. Think about that. It is quite likely you can reach your target prospect through a mere five people. But not if you aren’t engaging with anyone.

I was reading a newsletter in which a gentleman said he had applied for a CFO position with an Internet start-up. However, the response he got was that his knowledge of the Internet and social media experience were so UNDER-whelming that he referred to himself as a “fossil.” He could well be on his way to being extinct. 

Here’s something you may not know. Since 2005, the demand for social media jobs has increased by 325%. How will you compete for finance leadership positions at companies who are integrating social media to support their core business practice and mission if you, as an otherwise qualified CFO, have missed the social media boat ... professionally and corporately? 

If nothing more, embracing social media can put you at the front of the pack. In fact,  as a senior-level finance executive, it could even help you leave the competition in the dust. Not solely because you are perceived as “Internet or Web 2.0” savvy, but because you have strong visibility among the people who need to know about you. Playing in the social media arena goes a long way towards helping you be prepared for the unexpected, or, even better, ensuring that you can execute your 3-to-5-year career plan. You do have a plan, right?

Are CFOs Missing the Social Networking Boat?

There are lists of CEOs who tweet and CIOs who tweet ... but where are the lists of CFOs who are active in any kind of social media? Yes, I do have a CFO list on my Twitter stream, many courtesy of CFOWise. Are there any others?

I was talking with the owner of MyCFONetwork.com earlier this week, catching up after the holidays, and inquiring whether his membership was engaging with each other within the various communities. He said not really. In fact, what he was hearing was that they wanted more content. 

Wait. More content? Are CFOs missing the social media boat? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, ah ... yes! 

Whether you tweet or don’t tweet isn’t the issue. The real issue is that not embracing social media is a huge career mistake.

Twitter, Linked In, Facebook, and even MyCFONetwork are merely tools that facilitate the ability to  ... talk with people - and - get on the radar screen of people who need to know about you. In case you didn’t know, or you forgot, it is not who you know that matters today, but rather “who knows about you.” 

I read a great article in which this quote appeared ...

The only thing avoiding social media does for you is it takes your voice entirely out of the conversation. It doesn’t make you invisible, it makes you mute.

And, it makes you vulnerable.

I spoke with a CFO yesterday who was happily employed one day and shown the door the next. He was caught completely unaware, and was completely unprepared for a job loss and a job search. His digital footprint is non-existent. That means, 

--he has two huge obstacles to overcome ... age bias and unemployment; and

--his search must ramp up from ground zero. 

He is in his mid-50’s and, understandably, very worried. He doesn’t have the luxury of a strong online and offline network, visibility among his target market, and the credibility of a dense digital footprint. What he does have is an uphill battle.

Look for Part 2 ... Getting IN the Boat ... coming up next.